CHAPTER 10.

IN SCRIPTURE, THE TRUE GOD OPPOSED, EXCLUSIVELY, TO ALL THE GODS OF THE
HEATHEN.

Sections.

1. Explanation of the knowledge of God resumed. God as manifested in
Scripture, the same as delineated in his works.

2. The attributes of God as described by Moses, David, and Jeremiah.
Explanation of the attributes. Summary. Uses of this knowledge.

3. Scripture, in directing us to the true God, excludes the gods of the
heathen, who, however, in some sense, held the unity of God.

1. WE formerly observed that the knowledge of God, which, in other respects, is
not obscurely exhibited in the frame of the world, and in all the creatures, is
more clearly and familiarly explained by the word. It may now be proper to
show, that in Scripture the Lord represents himself in the same character in
which we have already seen that he is delineated in his works. A full
discussion of this subject would occupy a large space. But it will here be
sufficient to furnish a kind of index, by attending to which the pious reader
may be enabled to understand what knowledge of God he ought chiefly to search
for in Scripture, and be directed as to the mode of conducting the search. I am
not now adverting to the peculiar covenant by which God distinguished the race
of Abraham from the rest of the nations. For when by gratuitous adoption he
admitted those who were enemies to the rank of sons, he even then acted in the
character of a Redeemer. At present, however, we are employed in considering
that knowledge which stops short at the creation of the world, without
ascending to Christ the Mediator. But though it will soon be necessary to quote
certain passages from the New Testament (proofs being there given both of the
power of God the Creator, and of his providence in the preservation of what he
originally created), I wish the reader to remember what my present purpose is,
that he may not wander from the proper subject. Briefly, then, it will be
sufficient for him at present to understand how God, the Creator of heaven and
earth, governs the world which was made by him. In every part of Scripture we
meet with descriptions of his paternal kindness and readiness to do good, and
we also meet with examples of severity which show that he is the just punisher
of the wicked, especially when they continue obstinate notwithstanding of all
his forbearance.

2. There are certain passages which contain more vivid descriptions of the
divine character, setting it before us as if his genuine countenance were
visibly portrayed. Moses, indeed, seems to have intended briefly to comprehend
whatever may be known of God by man, when he said, ìThe Lord, The Lord
God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and
that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers
upon the children, and upon the childrenís children, unto the third and
to the fourth generation,î (Ex. 34:6, 7). Here we may observe,
first, that his eternity and selfexistence are declared by his
magnificent name twice repeated; and, secondly, that in the enumeration
of his perfections, he is described not as he is in himself, but in relation to
us, in order that our acknowledgement of him may be more a vivid actual
impression than empty visionary speculation. Moreover, the perfections thus
enumerated are just those which we saw shining in the heavens, and on the
earthócompassion, goodness, mercy, justice, Judgment, and truth. For
power and energy are comprehended under the name Jehovah. Similar epithets are
employed by the prophets when they would fully declare his sacred name. Not to
collect a great number of passages, it may suffice at present to refer to one
Psalm (145) in which a summary of the divine perfections is so carefully given
that not one seems to have been omitted. Still, however, every perfection there
set down may be contemplated in creation; and, hence, such as we feel him to be
when experience is our guide, such he declares himself to be by his word. In
Jeremiah, where God proclaims the character in which he would have us to
acknowledge him, though the description is not so full, it is substantially the
same. ìLet him that glorieth,î says he, ìglory in this,
that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise
loving-kindness, Judgment, and righteousness, in the earth,î (Jer. 9:24).
Assuredly, the attributes which it is most necessary for us to know are these
three: Loving-kindness, on which alone our entire safety depends: Judgment,
which is daily exercised on the wicked, and awaits them in a severer form, even
for eternal destruction: Righteousness, by which the faithful are preserved,
and most benignly cherished. The prophet declares, that when you understand
these, you are amply furnished with the means of glorying in God. Nor is there
here any omission of his truth, or power, or holiness, or goodness. For how
could this knowledge of his loving-kindness, Judgment, and righteousness,
exist, if it were not founded on his inviolable truth? How, again, could it be
believed that he governs the earth with Judgment and righteousness, without
presupposing his mighty power? Whence, too, his loving-kindness, but from his
goodness? In fine, if all his ways are loving-kindness, Judgment, and
righteousness, his holiness also is thereby conspicuous. Moreover, the
knowledge of God, which is set before us in the Scriptures, is designed for the
same purpose as that which shines in creationóviz. that we may thereby
learn to worship him with perfect integrity of heart and unfeigned obedience,
and also to depend entirely on his goodness.

3. Here it may be proper to give a summary of the general doctrine. First,
then, let the reader observe that the Scripture, in order to direct us to the
true God, distinctly excludes and rejects all the gods of the heathen, because
religion was universally adulterated in almost every age. It is true, indeed,
that the name of one God was everywhere known and celebrated. For those who
worshipped a multitude of gods, whenever they spoke the genuine language of
nature, simply used the name god, as if they had thought one god sufficient.
And this is shrewdly noticed by Justin Martyr, who, to the same effect, wrote a
treatise, entitled, On the Monarchy of God, in which he shows, by a great
variety of evidence, that the unity of God is engraven on the hearts of all.
Tertullian also proves the same thing from the common forms of
speech.79 But as all, without exception, have in the vanity of their
minds rushed or been dragged into lying fictions, these impressions, as to the
unity of God, whatever they may have naturally been, have had no further effect
than to render men inexcusable. The wisest plainly discover the vague
wanderings of their minds when they express a wish for any kind of Deity, and
thus offer up their prayers to unknown gods. And then, in imagining a manifold
nature in God, though their ideas concerning Jupiter, Mercury, Venus, Minerva,
and others, were not so absurd as those of the rude vulgar, they were by no
means free from the delusions of the devil. We have elsewhere observed, that
however subtle the evasions devised by philosophers, they cannot do away with
the charge of rebellion, in that all of them have corrupted the truth of God.
For this reason, Habakkuk (2:20), after condemning all idols, orders men to
seek God in his temple, that the faithful may acknowledge none but Him, who has
manifested himself in his word.